Sandbeds

Thats why they caution people against not getting sand sifting stars in small tanks. Poor things starve.

I think it would be fine in your 70g. My goby for instance only sifts the top bit of sand. The only time he digs deep is if he is making a cave or bunker

So a goby would be bad in a 29 gal.?

Almondsaz said:

What do you think about the blennys? I am concerned that they deplete the bacteria and fauna you are trying to grow.

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im assuming you are talking about gobies?
as long as it isnt a really large gobie, they will do fine in a 29 gallon tank. they will usualy go all around and sift everywhere when they first are introduced. but will eventualy settle into only one or two spots. at least this is what ive observed with all the speccies ive kept.

Yeah once they find their spot,they wont do as much deep digging.It will be fine.

Right, blennies would be just fine. The sandsifting gobies will indeed deplete the sandbed (so if you want a functional sandbed, they are not an option). I would recommend against any of the sandsifting gobies in a 29 gallon tank (this includes Valenciennea species as well as most Amblygobius species). They will not do well without sandbed fauna and if they deplete it, they will starve. The more open sand surface area and the more established the tank, the better they will do.

From what I understand, 'gobies' are the family of fish that comprises of zillions...so, there are sand sifters, swimmers, diggers, leapers, whatever...very plentiful. You can't say they wouldn't be good in a 29g because there are so many of them that don't get very big at all.

I believe blennies are acually closely related, too.

And, of course, you have blennies that eat algae and blennies that are really dragonettes and eat pods. So, dragonettes are practically gobies, too. And some dragonettes stay small, while others grow too large for a 29g

Having a small sand burrowing goby in a 29g would probably be fine, whereas a 29g tank with a shallow sandbed and a large goby would probably lead to issues.

Sand sifting starfish, from everything I've read, are not just a risk to their personal health, but they also eat all the stuff that makes a sandbed worth having, so in effect could also be VERY detrimental to the health of the entire reef tank.

Is it better to have a 3 or 4 inch sandbed or better for about an inch?